The Open Thread for November 9, 2018

The Trump administration is seeking to deny asylum to migrants caught crossing the U.S.-Mexico border illegally. New regulations will block migrants from claiming asylum if they do not come to an official border crossing. They are intended to speed up rulings on asylum claims, instead of having migrants try to circumvent official crossings on the nearly 2,000-mile (3,200-kilometer) border. The new rules are subject to a presidential proclamation expected Friday in which Trump will invoke the same justification he did for the travel ban. The new rules will almost certainly face court challenges.

“The Trump administration expects to be sued over its draconian new immigration plan, which may be unveiled as soon as Thursday afternoon… but with Justice Brett Kavanaugh now on the Supreme Court, it expects to win,” NBC News reports.

“In the weeks before the midterms, even those Trump administration officials who fought bitterly with each other over how to curtail illegal immigration learned they could agree on a few things.”

“First, of the measures most likely to be approved by the president, all were likely to lead to a lawsuit. But second, when sued, they believed they would ultimately prevail. According to the two senior officials, they think that with Kavanaugh in place, the Supreme Court will rule in their favor.”

Democrats have an “army of lawyers” working on the likely recount that will decide the winner of the Florida Senate race, USA Today reports.

“Fewer than 17,400 votes out of more than 8.1 million cast separated Republican challenger Gov. Rick Scott over Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson as of Thursday afternoon. That’s inside the 0.25 point margin that dictates a hand recount of ballots that showed either no vote or more than one vote cast in the Senate race.”

A Florida teacher told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel that she discovered a locked ballot box that was left behind at a polling site at her school.

“Voter turnout soared in the 2018 midterm elections, according to an early projection in a new study, potentially reaching the highest level in over 50 years,” NBC News reports.

“An estimated 48.1 percent of eligible voters cast ballots, over 113 million people in total… If that holds it would be the highest rate since 1966, when 48.7 percent of voters participated.”

“A year-and-a-half before he took responsibility for overseeing the investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election, Matthew Whitaker, now the acting attorney general, had already reached a conclusion,” the Daily Beast reports.

Said Whitaker, on the Willow Majority show: “The truth is there was no collusion with the Russians and the Trump campaign. There was interference by the Russians into the election, but that was not collusion with the campaign. That’s where the left seems to be combining those two issues.”

He added: “The last thing they want right now is for the truth to come out, and for the fact that there’s not a single piece of evidence that demonstrates that the Trump campaign had any illegal or any improper relationships with the Russians. It’s that simple.”

BREAKING: Here's audio we found of Matthew Whitaker: "The left is trying to sow this theory that essentially Russians interfered with the US election. Which has been proven false. They did not have any impact in the election, that is clear from Obama Admin." #WhitakerMustRecusepic.twitter.com/ObQVGFjzXt

Lawfare reports that “there are three lingering questions about this appointment that have not yet been answered in public: First, is the appointment constitutional? Second, does the president have authority to make an appointment under the FVRA when there is a confirmed deputy attorney general who can act under a specific statute governing Department of Justice succession (28 U.S.C. § 508)? And third, does the acting attorney general have any recusal obligations in relation to the special counsel’s investigation in light of his past statements and relationships?”

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), who is likely to lead the House Intelligence Committee during the next Congress, told The Hill he’s interested in interviewing former Attorney General Jeff Sessions about the circumstances of his firing.

Said Schiff: “On this particular question of what led up to his firing or what information he may have in terms of obstruction to justice, I think that will be of interest to not only our committee but the Judiciary Committee and others as well.”

Republicans are already keeping the promises they made in the campaign, by making them disappear into thin air: https://t.co/fcerx8L0Lz

“Suspense and uncertainty now hang over the U.S. Senate race, where Kyrsten Sinema (D) and Martha McSally (R) are locked in a race separated by just 2,106 votes,” the Arizona Republic reports. “The updated results, updated at 5 p.m. Thursday, was the first time since election night that the results were substantively updated.”

“A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruled Thursday that the Trump administration relied on faulty legal reasoning in trying to end the Obama-era program allowing some immigrants brought to the country illegally as children to gain legal status,” the Washington Post reports.

“The decision, echoing other courts, virtually ensures that the question will end up before the Supreme Court.”

"Those concerned with the integrity of the investigation need to be on guard for these types of more subtle obstructions, which are far more plausible than grosser efforts," writes @RosenzweigP: https://t.co/2gAidHuvv8

“Rep. Beto O’Rourke’s closer-than-expected loss Tuesday has fueled optimism among his friends and allies — as well as Democratic admirers across the country — that he will run for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination,” CNN reports.

“O’Rourke huddled with senior campaign aides Wednesday in El Paso, but offered them no indication of future political plans — saying he first planned to spend time at home with his family after nearly two years on the road and process the election’s results before weighing what comes next.”

“Another source described having ‘very initial discussions’ with O’Rourke in recent weeks about the prospect of a 2020 bid and what it would take to scale a Senate campaign that operated largely on the candidate’s own gut, without pollsters or a massive team of consultants, up to the national level. But the source said it’s too early for O’Rourke to have made any decisions.”

Jonathan Swan: “Sources with direct knowledge say that since the earliest days of his presidency, Trump has mused about revoking press credentials for reporters who infuriate him. But press staff have often successfully counseled him against doing so, telling him it would only elevate the reporter involved and would result in damaging stories about him cracking down on press freedom.”

“Yesterday, Trump went ahead and did it anyway, with Sarah Sanders announcing that the White House had removed the ‘hard pass’ of CNN’s Jim Acosta, who had tangled with Trump at his midday press conference.”

“The reaction from White House reporters made it clear that a new line had been crossed.”

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) is being considered to replace Jeff Sessions as attorney general, two sources familiar with the matter tell CBS News.

“No decisions are expected soon, and the list of those being considered — which also includes Rudy Giuliani, outgoing Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, and former Attorney General William Barr, who served under President George H. W. Bush — is likely to grow in the coming days.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders stood by her tweet of an apparently doctored video of CNN’s Jim Acosta, manipulated to make it appear that he got physical with a White House press intern.

“The question is: did the reporter make contact or not?,” Sanders said in a statement Thursday. “The video is clear, he did. We stand by our statement.”

The video appears to be taken from fringe far-right website InfoWars to make it look like Acosta chopped down on the intern’s arm. In reality, she reached into his personal space repeatedly to grab his microphone, which he held onto as he tried to get President Donald Trump to answer his question.

The White House has used the fabricated physical altercation as grounds to revoke Acosta’s press pass, a move that reporters of all stripes and ideologies have condemned.

It’s still unclear what Whitaker’s appointment as acting attorney general means for the Russia investigation, but he could exacerbate a constitutional crisis. https://t.co/w5jCl4rZHe

Harvard’s Institute of Politics reports that approximately 31% of young people aged 18 to 29 turned out to vote in the 2018 midterm elections, an extraordinary increase over the 2014 elections and the highest rate of turnout in at least 25 years.

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg admitted to the hospital early this morning after falling in her office last night and fracturing three ribs, the Washington Post reports. She is at the hospital for observation and treatment.

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19 comments on “The Open Thread for November 9, 2018”

A little surprised not to see Bernie called out for thinking that being uncomfortable with voting for black people doesn’t make you a racist. that pretty much ends his campaign.
*sigh, Bernie….. ya went full berniebro. you NEVER go full berniebro. Let’s hope

Yeah, I thought about it, am still thinking about it. But I don’t want to get into the infighting part of 2020 yet. Want to savor some our wins in 2018 while we are still counting votes in Florida and Arizona and California. But you are correct. The 2020 presidential campaign of Bernard Sanders is over. He will now not win the nomination. I will never vote for him, ever, in any capacity.

When fleeing danger, do you accept asylum in the first safe place you come to that offers it, or do you continue on to a place that offers better accommodations? If you choose the latter, is that in fact seeking asylum?

Why are they leaving now? Why don’t they go seek asylum, somewhere else. Must be george, who is giving them food, water shelter for their journey. He should have just provided bus transportation as well, cheap bastard! But, walking sure does look better!

If you were truly interested in the answers to these questions, you would be spending your time reading the many stories written by people who are on the ground. But you’re not, are you?

That’s the problem with all the questions you pose here. If you were truly interested in the answers you would look for them instead of asking others to waste their time educating you because you’re too lazy to do it yourself.

Typical Al, you fail to listen. I didn’t vote for Trump! How’s Hillary?? Why your in France and protesting, what a sorrowful life. You guys just can’t get over it. You have to go to France to protest, what a tool!